Bulgaria Highway Pile-Up: At Least 10 Dead, 50 Injured as Around 50 Vehicles Crash Amid Dense Fog - Republic World

Sofia: Eleven people died in a traffic accident ​involving dozens of vehicles on both sides of a ‌foggy stretch of highway in eastern Bulgaria on Tuesday, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said.

Police, firefighters and ambulance crews rushed to the scene on the A1 road ​that links the capital Sofia with the eastern city of ​Burgas. Images on local media showed cars and trucks ⁠piled up across six lanes of highway, many crushed, overturned, or ​veered off to the side.

Fifty injured people were transported to hospital, according ​to the interior ministry.

Radev described the accident as a "tragedy" in a statement during a visit to Bulgaria by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He ​said that he had deployed aircraft to evacuate the wounded and ​planned to visit the scene.

Von der Leyen said she would cut her visit short. "I ⁠would like to express my deepest condolences and I would like to pay respects to the rescue teams," von der Leyen said.

Briefing reporters at the site of the accident, General Secretary of the Interior ​Ministry, Lyubomir Nikolov, ​said that fog ⁠was the likely cause of the accident which started with a collision between a bus and a ​truck on the side of the highway heading towards ​Burgas.

Chief ⁠Inspector Todor Mishinev from the Yambol Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs told Nova TV that some people were still trapped in ⁠their ​cars.

"Right now, the priority is rescue operations. ​Once they are completed, the procedural and investigative actions will be carried out," he ​said.